


Little Old Me

by Kahnah



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen, creepy Halloween story, might be scary to some
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 20:03:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21203288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahnah/pseuds/Kahnah
Summary: Michael wakes up in a place he doesn't belong.♫ "My honey, I know with the dawn, that you will be gone." ♪--Some scary story in celebration of Halloween and bc I like creepy stories, hehe





	Little Old Me

**Author's Note:**

> There's a link in the story that leads to the music Michael is hearing. It's not a screamer or another cheap trick like that but it's creepy.

Little Old Me

  


Michael woke up to the sound of the alarm. His hand reached out to silence it because it was definitely too early for this shit, but before he could find his phone, he was greeted with a sharp pain.

That woke him fully.

Opening his eyes, he realized he wasn‘t in his room. He wasn‘t even on a bed or a couch or somewhere comfortable but just dumped on the floor, a floor he didn‘t recognize, and just like that, his heart started to beat faster.

His first instinct was to jump up and get out of there, but he managed to stop himself. If he was here without knowing how, someone must have taken him and that someone might still be around. It would be better not to alert them right now.

So Michael stayed still and tried to figure out where he was from his place on the floor. He was laying on a gastly brown, old, musty carpet that nobody sane would choose. There were pieces of glass all over it and that reminded him of his hand. He must have cut himself on one of the shards, and now blood welled up from the tip of his finger. It wasn‘t much, nothing to worry about, but seeing that vibrant red in a place like this managed to turn his stomach.

The lighting was dim in here. He couldn‘t see a lamp or anything in this room, but there was some light falling in from behind him. It looked natural, so maybe there was a window somewhere he could escape from.

The light wasn‘t strong enough to fill the whole room but Michael was able to make out the dark corners. It was a big room, bigger than he had imagined. Somehow he had figured this would be a small chamber with naked walls and some pipes for the aesthetic, but no. There were empty wooden shelves on the wall filled with... clothes? Clothes or towels or something of that kind. The walls were a cream color that had seen better days, like all things in here had.

None of that really helped him, and from here he couldn‘t see much more. In the back, he could see some kind of counter, but it was hard to make out. Might also be a desk.

Michael listened for any noises; breathing, nearing steps, or something like that. There was still that alarm. It had ripped him from his sleep but it actually wasn‘t very loud. It also came from quite a distance and when he heard nothing else, he slowly turned his head.

He looked out from huge windows and onto some form of paved path right in front of it. There was no glass in the windows, which would explain the shards all around and Michael looked further. Opposite of the path was another set of windows, also missing but he knew what he was looking at.

Those were... shops? Was he in a shop?

Looking around, he could see it. A clothing store maybe with the counter in the back and he sat up. Yeah, there were all kinds of jeans and shirts on the shelves, still neatly stacked but buried under a thick layer of dust.

What the fuck?

The alarm blared on in the distance, but it seemed to be growing weaker. He wasn‘t quite sure but the sound fueled another fear in him. It reminded him of all kinds of catastrophe movies, of the moment after a crash or the deafening silence after a bomb explosion.

Getting to his feet, he slowly stepped towards the broken shop windows.

He was at a mall. Not a mall he recognized but definitely a mall.

Opposite of him were empty stores with no light coming from them. The only light came from the skylight above him and when Michael looked up, he had to avert his eyes quickly. It hurt his head, but he was glad for it. Even with the daylight streaming in this place was eerie.

There was glass and dust everywhere and the broken shop windows looked like empty eyes that followed his every movement. The shop door was also missing and Michael could easily step outside.

The mall was huge. Looking down the path on both sides, he could see the end of it in the distance and a couple of turns on the way, making this whole place some kind of maze. There were a handful of windows still intact but most were smashed apart or at least cracked. It looked like some kind of blast had torn through this place.

A bomb? He couldn‘t see the impact site but it was the first thing that came to his mind when he looked around. A terror attack?

Strangely enough the skylight stretching over the roof above looked completely intact. Shouldn‘t it have shattered as well? Maybe. Maybe not.

There was no one else around.

Clearly he couldn‘t have been the only person inside this mall, right? There had to be clerks, other people milling around this building, but he couldn‘t see anyone. No one was hurt or walking around, no one calling, and not even some form of grisly blood streak on the floor.

Even in the store he had just come out of there had been no one but himself. Thinking about it... Michael looked up to the entrance he had just stepped out of.

_ ‚Institutional' _ stood there in bold letters, a name he couldn‘t place. What was he doing here in the first place?

This wasn‘t the usual mall he went to, he couldn‘t even remember why he had come here in the first place. What had he been doing before this? He wasn‘t sure. He wasn‘t even sure what time of day it was or the date. His mind was a jumbled mess of standard memories and when he tried to think back before waking up here it was just generic pictures.

His room, getting to work, the bar he frequented, his friends. Nothing specific.

How had he ended up here?

He began to walk, because that was better than just standing there without answers. The alarm was coming from his right, so he turned there because something must have triggered it, right? Maybe there were people.

The wailing of the alarm had clearly dimmed down by now, as if its battery was running low. Shop alarms didn’t have batteries though, right? That would be stupid, so maybe it was the electricity. There wasn’t any lamp on he could see, so maybe that was the case.

Each footstep raised dust and once or twice he had to step over rubble. Big screens had crashed down from where they had shown ads of this place, maybe a map. It was the only evidence of damage he could see outside of the shops. Besides the dust everywhere everything seemed intact. The benches for resting were still standing where they belonged, there were big posts with information every couple yards, and Michael stopped in front of one to wipe the dust away.

St. Eitzen Mall. He had never heard of a place like this.

Beneath was a list of the shops in the mall but scanning over it, he didn't recognize a single name. No Macy's or Starbucks or even a simple McDonald's; how was that even possible? There was a Starbucks around every damn corner in this country!

Instead he had shops like _Institutional_ and _Leroux_and what not.

Where the fuck was he?

When he touched the list it fell apart as if it was very, very old.

The sinking feeling in his stomach grew stronger and for a second he wanted to call out. Someone would hear him, right?

But the thought of disturbing this silence felt wrong, as if he didn't want to be found. As if it was a mistake to alert whoever was slithering in the dark. That was stupid of course, but he couldn’t get his mouth to open.

He went on.

There was an escalator coming from below. It wasn't running anymore and lead downstairs, so he wasn't on the ground floor like he had thought. Stepping onto the railing, he looked down.

The floor beneath was drenched in shadows. The cutout for the escalator painted a perfect bright square but everything outside was solid black, nearly like a wall. There were specters when Michael looked closer, other shops or benches. In the corner of his eyes they looked like they were moving but whenever he tried to catch them, they were holding still.

Of course they did, it was just his nerves playing a trick on him.

There were plants overgrowing their pots and climbing up the side of the escalator, reaching for the light. No mall he knew would let their plants grow this tall.

How long had nobody trimmed them for them to climb halfway up the escalator? Michael didn't know but he didn't want to figure out.

The alarm gave one last shriek and then died down, leaving him behind in a perfect silence. There was no other noise now, no footsteps or rustling or creaking of wood. Just his own breathing and heartbeat.

Michael didn't dare to move. Every step would sound deafening in here, echoing through the whole mall and he didn't want that. No, not while he was still staring down into this darkness.

Something was moving down there.

His mind tried to tell him that it wasn't the case, that he would hear it if something moved and he didn't but he knew. He knew that something was down there, shuffling around as if it was part of the shadows itself.

All that mattered was the question of if it had also noticed him or not.

Crouching down, he hid behind the balustrade and nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn't noticed that the metal balustrade was reflective like a mirror and seeing himself had scared him.

Michael stared into his own pale face and slowly he began to realize that this was real. He wasn't dreaming or something, this wasn't a weird prank. There wasn't even a point in pinching himself, not when the cut on his finger was still hurting. It had stopped bleeding at least but now that Michael could see himself, he hesitated.

He wasn't dusty like everything else in here. Sure, the side of his body that had laid on the crappy carpet was and there was a smudge on his jeans where he had brushed off his hand, but besides that he was clean. No dust.

There was a distant screeching coming from beneath, metal rubbing against metal and Michael had to push a hand against his mouth to keep a startled noise inside.

Whatever was waiting downstairs either heard it as well or caused it, so Michael waited.

He hadn't expected [ music ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGQzQrMQEo8&)to softly play. Instantly a cold shiver ran down his spine. The melody was distantly familiar but he couldn't care less about it. His arms broke out in goosebumps and he bit down on his hand not to panic.

When there was a motion next to him though, all that was thrown out of the window.

Michael jumped up and turned but saw nothing. Not that it mattered because he hit the balustrade with his back and the noise was like a gunshot in the mall.

Now there was clearly something downstairs that was moving around and Michael threw himself around and ran.

Back the way he came and each step was loud as thunder. The music jumped as if he was disturbing it and it sounded old, like from a record player or a music box. It grew louder even though he got a feeling he was running away from it. He didn't dare to think about what that meant.

Over his own pounding heart and his steps he couldn't listen for the thing beneath him but he wasn't about to slow down. Whatever was beneath him was faster than him anyway. That's how those things went, right?

_ "I know-" _

The sudden chorus of children nearly made his heart stop and he threw a look over his shoulders. Nobody behind him even though it had sounded like it had been right there. As if a couple of children were just sitting on one of the benches, giggling to themselves at his expression. Or down in the shop that had once sold pretzels he had just passed by. Maybe in that old rusty carousel waiting downstairs.

Michael couldn't be sure if it really was there, but he knew. He knew it was waiting, dead as everything else here until he came close enough. Then the lights would turn on and it would start to spin slow enough so that he could get a good look at the horses. The horses with those open mouths and scratched out eyes.

There were no children. None he could see at least.

It was just the song but that barely helped him calm his nerves.

_ "I know you belong to somebody new-" _

He reached the end of the mall and nearly hit the windows because he just wanted to keep on running. Whatever was downstairs was watching him, was coming closer, and with it the music rose and fell, needle scratching over an old record as the children continued to sing.

_ "But tonight you belong to me." _

From up here he could see over the parking lot and his heart sank. It was completely abandoned besides a few tipped over shopping carts. A couple of skid marks told of a quick escape by whoever had been here before. They lead up the street and onto the highway.

There were no cars on the highway.

There was no one as far as his eyes could see.

There was no movement at all, not even the wind rustling the bushes or the stray papers out there. Everything was covered in dust as if this world had just stopped.

_ "My honey, I know-" _

Michael turned back around and now there was something.

_ "-with the dawn, that you will be gone." _

All the way on the other side of the mall so that his shitty eyesight couldn't tell him more. If there was even more to them.

It was just a dark figure, a shadow without a host. They were moving, not towards him but just from side to side. As if they were swaying to the music, slow ballroom steps.

The song grew louder until it made the windows behind him rattle.

_ "But tonight you belong to me." _

It droned in his head until it was in his very bones until it was bumping through his soul and vibrating in his teeth.

It was just a distraction, he knew that somewhere deep down inside but it was hard to rip his eyes from the dancing shadow. He had to though if he wanted to see the others coming. There to his right was another escalator leading down into the dark abyss. Even with the skylight overhead, the light didn't reach more than the first three steps and even those were taken now.

As he watched something clawed from the shadows and up the stairs. Long spidery extremities that had a hard time finding a grip on the steps but that wouldn't stop them.

_ "And tonight you belong to me." _

The song hurt his head now and he pushed his hands against his ears as he slid down to the floor. It didn't do much because the song was already a part of him and it was playing in his very own dreams already.

_ "-belong to me." _

The shadowy figure lifted themselves onto the floor and spilled over it like water. This one wasn't dancing.

Michael closed his eyes.

_ "-to me." _

_ "-to me." _

  
  


_ "-to me." _

  
  
  


_ "Just to little old me." _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> That was fun to write!  
This whole thing was inspired when the video mentioned above popped up in my recommended videos, pft


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